On Initiation

You stand in the matrix of power supported by those who have gone before you. Stand knowing that you are an ancestor of the future - Luisa Teish

Over the weekend, I participated in a rite that, among other things, made me a priest in my specific Witchcraft tradition. On Friday August 5th, 2011, I was initiated into my small Mystery tradition and my head is still reeling from its effects and from what I learned there.

Initiation has many levels and meanings. While I cannot tell you any particulars (Oaths require secrecy and Mystery has a hard time fitting into words anyway), I can tell you this. I am forever changed.

I am sure the changes will continue over time, but now- in the immediate, I find myself quieter, more contemplative. I am sitting back and observing the world and its inhabitants, noticing small things that I may have missed before. The world seems overwhelming at times, as my senses seem to have been sharpened. I get more frequent visitors both waking and dreaming, too. Not all of them are ones that I want around. My teacher tells me that "Everyone is now checking you out." I am the fresh meat on the astral block, it seems.

Since words are failing me at this time, I will leave you with a poem about Initiation by Gabriel Carillo, one of our tradition's Mighty Dead:

Initiation is:
a beginning
an opening
a gate that leads beyond the fields we know
that opens onto a whole new journey
into the perilous heart of the labyrinth
that shows us how little we know
a transformation
a marriage that weds us to the Other
yet makes us more ourselves
and makes everything about us more than it was
for good or ill
a wind to ride to the ends of the earth and beyond
a beginning 

Initiation is:
the great work
the greatest act of magic
the deepest sharing and trust 

Initiation:
connects one to the infinite
connects one to the eternal blue heaven
connects one to the green earth and the stars
connects us to Those who have gone before
connects us to the wild and perilous Faery Power
that is the heart of Faery
more than words or gestures or symbols or names
that is passed in silence loud as the roaring sea
at the heart of the world
and in chanting as soft as the wings of the dove
that we touch through the one who brings us
through the beginning and links us in
the unending chain of transmission
one to one to one through time
since the ancient beginning. 

The Faery Power:
is the heart of Faery
is the gift of the Gods,
when they come called by the pulse
of the power and the madness
pulsing
in the initiator’s heart.
to accept the prepared candidate
Flows on the link from oathmother to oathmother carrying the voices
of Those who have gone before
their wisdom and their madness
their magic and their imperfections
an overwhelming cacophany of voices
a sea in which one must struggle to stay afloat
the wind that roars between the stars
that blows out of the Gates of the Dawn
in blasting or blessing to the weighing
of your heart 

The initiator calls, the Gods and the Power answers, the candidate receives and becomes.
No break in the chain one on one on one, for the power rides and passes along the chain.